NEB rules in favour of Kinder Morgan over Burnaby Mountain access

VANCOUVER – The National Energy Board has sided with Kinder Morgan in a dispute with the City of Burnaby over access to Burnaby Mountain.

The company can proceed with necessary studies of its preferred pipeline route through the mountain without the city’s consent.

In a decision released Tuesday, the National Energy Board confirmed that under federal legislation the company doesn’t need permission to access the land that is home to Simon Fraser University and a vast nature preserve.

“It would not be logical that the Board be required to recommend approval or denial of a project without all necessary information before it,” the board said in a decision posted online. “This would not be in the public interest.”

Kinder Morgan would prefer to bore its pipeline through the mountain, rather than follow the current pipeline route through residential and business areas.

The federal National Energy Board Act stipulates that a company may enter into the land of any person that lies on the intended route to survey or otherwise ascertain whether the land is suitable, the board found.

The company does not require an order from the national regulator for temporary access, it said.

“There is no requirement … for companies to reach agreement with landowners, the Crown, or otherwise, before exercising the right to access land,” the board said.

It does note that the company could have made a formal request to the city sooner than it did.